ddressing her father alone, "I will not,
father. I have made up my mind that I will not."

Then, as Parson Fair said not a word, only looked at her with stern
questioning, she went on, shrill and fast, "I will not; no, I will
not! Nobody can make me! I thought I would, I thought I must, until
this last. Now when it comes to this, I can do no more. I will not,
father."

"Why?" said Parson Fair.

"I would have kept my promise, father. I would have kept it, no
matter if--I would have been faithful to him if he--" Suddenly
Dorothy turned on Burr with a gasp of terror and defiance. "I would
never have done this, you know," she cried; "it would never have come
to this, if you had spoken and told me you were innocent."

"What do you mean, child?" said Parson Fair, sternly.

"He would not tell me that he did not stab his cousin Lot," replied
Dorothy, setting her sweet mouth doggedly. Her blue eyes met her
father's with shrinking and yet steadfast defiance.

"Dorothy," said he, "do you not know that he is innocent by his
cousin's own confession?"

"Why, then, does he not say so?" finished Dorothy. "How do I know who
did it? Madelon Hautville said she was guilty, then Lot Gordon; and
Burr would not deny his guilt when I asked him. How do I know which?
Madelon Hautville was trying to shield him; I am not blind. Then Lot
liked her. How do I know which?" Suddenly she cried out to Burr so
loud that the people in the entry below heard her, "Tell me now that
you are innocent, and either your cousin Lot or Madelon Hautville
guilty," she demanded. "Tell me!"

Burr, white and rigid, looked at her, and made no reply. "Tell me,"
she cried, in her sweet, shrill voice, "tell me now that you did not
stab your cousin Lot, and Madelon Hautville spoke the truth, and I
will keep my promise to you, even if my heart is not yours."

Parson Fair grasped his daughter's arm again. "No man whom you have
promised to wed should reply to such distrust as this," he said.
"Dorothy, I command you to go down-stairs and be married to this
man."

Then Dorothy broke away from him with a wild shriek. "No, I will not
marry this man with his cousin's blood on his soul! I will not,
father; you shall not make me! I will not! Night and day I shall see
that knife in his hand. I will not marry him, because he tried to
kill his cousin Lot. I will not, I will not!" The black woman pushed
between them with a savage murmur of love and wrath, and caught her
mi